Salon has an article up that should cause shock and dismay among all Americans.
Follow me below to discover what their dirty, lying keyboards have been up to.
Margriet Oostveen is a writer who has infilitrated campaigns in the past. Both McCain's and Obamas.
Her most recent assignment led her to Arlington, Va. and the McCain/Palin campaign office.
Salon
Much to her delight, rather than phone banking she was assigned to write 'ghostletters' and told:
"You can be whoever you want to be," says an inviting Phil Tuchman. "You can be a beggar or a millionaire. A mom or a husband. Whatever. You decide!"
Phil Tuchman, of the campaign office, tells her and other ghostwriters that their letters will be used in battle ground states, such as Ohio. Pennsylvania. Virginia. New Hampshire.
Ms. Oostveen wondered how they could be assured of publication and Mr. Tuchman explains:
"We will show your letters to our supporters in those states," explains Phil. "If they say: 'Yeah, he/she is right!' then we ask them to sign your letter. And then we send that letter to the local newspaper. That's how we send dozens of letters at once."
No newspaper can refuse a stream of articulate expressions of support, is the thought behind it. "This way, we will always get into some letters column."
It was the day after Sarah Palin's big speech and Mr. Tuchman handed out talking points to the writers as Palin was their emphasis for the day.
...and Ms. Oostveen starts writing. After a slow start this woman really let's her imagination run. She writes about how much she admires Ms. Palin, her motherhood, etc., etc.,...and then she mentions Track, about to be deployed to Iraq, and then, all of the sudden, she's a mother too, with a son in Iraq, and she wants him home safe, but she wants him home proud...
Ms. Oostveen thought that she may have gone too overboard with her story (let's really not call this a letter, she's writing fiction here) but she receives this comment from Mr. Tuchman:
Phil bends over my computer screen and reads. This takes a while. I am expecting roars of laughter or to be kicked out. Then he says drily: "I like that. It appeals to the hearts of people. Can you write more letters?"
That's right..lie about your opinions, lie about who in the heck is writing this stuff, and lie about men and women in service. Lie to Americans.
There is simply nothing McCain/Palin will not smear, distort or tarnish for their gain.
We don't need four more years of Bush, Cheney and Rove. We need change.
Update: What was the McCain's campaign response to this action being exposed?
Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, said that Oostveen did not properly identify herself to campaign workers in Arlington. "She did not represent herself as a journalist to the people who work in the mid-Atlantic office."
Salon
That's right.."Gosh, if we had only known she was going to reveal our dirty, stinky, disgusting practices we wouldn't have shown them to her. This is obviously HER fault".
Update Recommended. My goodness, now nice of you all. I will contact the McCain/Palin campaign to write my thank-you notes. Not sure what they will say but I am positive that they will be from the bottom of my heart.
Digg It.
Update III: Well, well, well. The Huffington Post now has a story regarding the McCain campaign's tactics on its politics page. Perhaps people will be talking about this after all.
Final Update: Thanks to each of you for taking the time to read my diary and explore the links. In furtherance of exposing McCain/Palin for the shallow, pro-wealthy, anti-middle class dangers that they are I heartily recommend a reading of DemocraticLuntz' diary.
We are the change we've been waiting for.